Tag: Mike Griffith

Georgia beat writer Mike Griffith claims that “Kirby doesn’t think too much about Alabama”

Georgia beat writer Mike Griffth calls Alabama a “second-tier” team in 2024

If you ask the Georgia Bulldogs fans they will tell you it is a rivalry, if you ask an Alabama fan they’ll call it one-sided, but the fact of the matter is these are the two teams on top of the college football world. The two programs have combined to win three of the last four national titles and have posted a combined record of 99-10. Four of those ten losses have come against each other in one regular season meeting (2020), two SEC championships (2021 and 2023) and a national championship (2021).

In 2023, coming off of back-to-back national championships and riding a 29-game winning streak it looked as if the Dawgs were on their way to a three-peat before the Crimson Tide dethroned them in the SEC Championship. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be the final meeting between [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] and his prodigy [autotag]Kirby Smart[/autotag]. Saban walked away with an 8-2 record against Georgia and 5-1 against Smart.

However, heading into the 2024 season many Georgia fans, including Georgia beat writer Mike Griffith don’t consider the Tide to be much of a threat in the first year under [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag].

In an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show Griffith says, “Georgia doesn’t think too much, Kirby doesn’t think too much about Alabama. Really the October 19th game at Texas is the big headache. They’re looking at that as probably the game that is going to decide the SEC next year… People talk about Texas and Georgia at the top of the SEC and then you get into the second-tier’s, the Alabama’s, the Tennessee’s, the LSU’s, Ole Miss’s and Missouri’s.”

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How Freddie Kitchens can play a role in the Tennessee-Georgia game

How Freddie Kitchens can play a role in the Tennessee-Georgia game.

No. 12 Tennessee (2-0, 2-0 SEC) will travel to No. 3 Georgia (2-0, 2-0 SEC) in Week 3 of a 10-game SEC-only schedule.

The Vols have a 8-game winning streak heading into the matchup, but will face its biggest challenge this season Saturday.

Mike Griffith previewed the SEC East contest on the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days.” Griffith covers Georgia football for DawgNation of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Topics of discussion included Jeremy Pruitt building Tennessee’s program in the last three years, Georgia’s team through two games and Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Monken.

Monken is in his first season at Georgia after serving as offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, under then-head coach Freddie Kitchens, last season.

Tennessee-Georgia ‘a chess match’ between undefeated teams

Todd Monken’s Air Raid versus Jeremy Pruitt’s split safety coverage

Todd Monken, Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images.

Kitchens relinquished Monken’s duties of calling plays last season, causing a public discrepancy between the two.

Kitchens played quarterback at Alabama (1993-98) and was teammates with Pruitt and Vols’ offensive line coach Will Friend.

“It is interesting, Todd Monken used to work for Freddie Kitchens, who is Will Friend’s best friend at Alabama,” Griffith said. “Monken and Freddie did not get along last year, so both ended up losing their jobs. That was a very public feud between Freddie and his offensive coordinator. Monken was upset that he was not allowed to call plays.

“I can guarantee you that there were probably some calls made to Freddie Kitchens this week about Todd Monken, asking about some of his tendencies and thoughts. That’s what you do, you call your buddies and find out, I’m sure Freddie Kitchens would love to see Georgia get beat.”

Freddie Kitchens, Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports.

Kitchens is currently serving as tight ends coach for the New York Giants alongside Kevin Sherrer. Sherrer, a teammate of Pruitt, Friend and Kitchens at Alabama, served as an assistant at Tennessee the last two seasons.

The show with Griffith can be listened to here or below.

 

Should Penn State fans cheer for the Florida Gators football this season?

If a season actually happens in the SEC, only time will tell whether Gators fans will accept the now teamless Big Ten fans into their ranks.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponing their seasons, the last shred of hope for college football this fall rests with the SEC, ACC and Big 12.

But in the event that those leagues do play, what are fans of teams in the former two conferences supposed to do this season?

Often, the Big Ten and the SEC are the deepest and most talent-rich leagues in the country. Without their teams competing, will fans from the Midwest migrate south of the Mason-Dixon to find a new rooting interest for the short term?

Mike Griffith, a Georgia writer and Heisman voter, put out his list of teams Big Ten fans should adopt, and notably, he thinks fans of the Penn State Nittany Lions should be cheering for the Gators this fall.

It’s certainly possible to see some parallels between the two. Though neither program is the top-dog in their respective conferences, each has had historical periods of dominance and recently bounced back from down periods.

Under coach James Franklin, PSU won a conference title in 2016 and is coming off an 11-2 season in which it won a New Year’s Six Bowl and finished ranked in the top 10, just like Florida did in 2019.

In the Saturday Down South article Griffith quote-tweeted, Connor O’Gara instead argued that Michigan was more comparable to Florida, which I personally find more agreeable.

O’Gara argued his case as follows.

When these 2 schools inevitably meet again in a bowl game in a year or 2, it’d be nice if their fans could have the common ground of talking about the time they rooted for the same team. Lord knows there are already plenty of Michigan graduates in the state of Florida. Actually, Michigan graduates are everywhere. And why do they always feel the need to wear multiple pieces of Michigan apparel at the same time? We get it, guy. Also, if this is the year that Florida beats Georgia, Michigan fans can just tell themselves it’s like they finally beat Ohio State.

If a season actually happens in the SEC this fall, only time will tell whether Gators fans will accept the now teamless Big 10 fans into their ranks.

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Mike Griffith found what SEC teams each Big Ten fan should cheer for this season

Georgia football writer and Heisman voter, Mike Griffith, commented on an article about where each Big Ten fanbase should cheer for in the SEC this season, and used his research of resources and personalities of these conferences to find the most similar equivalent of each team.

Georgia football writer and Heisman voter, Mike Griffith, commented on an article about where each Big Ten fanbase should cheer for in the SEC this season, and used his research of resources and personalities of these conferences to find the most similar equivalent of each team.

Griffith found that Wisconsin was most like the Arkansas Razorbacks in the SEC West. I guess that could make sense if it is in terms of the personalities of our coaching staffs and the resources in the football programs, but in terms of results, the difference could not be more drastic.

Wisconsin finished last season 10-4 with two of those losses coming in the Big Ten Championship Game and the Rose Bowl. They were a very good football team that beat Minnesota and Michigan in the regular season, whereas Arkansas went 0-8 in conference play and 2-10 overall in the season. Their only two wins came against Tulsa and Portland State.

Many Wisconsin fans would also not have fond memories of the Razorbacks after Bret Bielema left Wisconsin to become the head coach for Arkansas, even though the Badgers got the better end of that with hiring Paul Chryst. Bielema was fired after a few poor seasons with the Razorbacks that they still haven’t recovered from.

The article by Saturday Down South that Griffith commented on had a more favorable equivalent for Wisconsin, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Connor O’Gara stated that the teams have both been very successful, but Wisconsin has never been able to get over the hump to the College Football Playoff or a National Championship. Cheering for Alabama this year will give us Wisconsin fans the experience of being in the College Football Playoff or a National Championship game.

I personally like O’Gara’s perspective and am seriously considering becoming an Alabama fan for this season, but I know I will not be cheering for the 2-10 Razorbacks.